Final week I shared how I believed Cairo Worldwide Airport (CAI) is the worst main airport on this planet. There was no ill-intent behind the publish, but it surely was simply meant to be a subject of dialog, just like the tens of hundreds of different weblog posts I’ve printed over time.
I didn’t even assume my observations have been that controversial, and extra readers agreed with me than not. Pondering Cairo Airport isn’t good is about as controversial as stating that the DMV doesn’t have the world’s finest service.
However quick ahead to the previous a number of days, the place this has someway develop into a nationwide story in Egypt. The Egyptian authorities is indignant at me, has threatened me, and has even launched video footage of me “having fun with” the airport to show that I’m mendacity (by posting footage of seven minutes of the roughly 4 hours I spent on the airport — and sure, these seven minutes do look fairly nice!).
The federal government has gone as far as to recommend that I used to be on another person’s payroll to slander the airport. It’s utterly nuts.
I’ll be steering away from Egypt till additional discover
Following this incident, a number of readers requested if I’d nonetheless journey to Egypt, and/or urged me to not. I needed to speak about that in a bit extra element on this publish. To begin with, because of everybody for his or her suggestions, and to those that expressed concern on the scenario… I respect it!
I need to say in no unsure phrases that I’ll be avoiding Cairo and all of Egypt for the foreseeable future, and gained’t be visiting the nation and even transiting an airport there. I’m principally viewing myself as a persona non grata within the nation. I don’t need to go as far as to say that I’ll “by no means” return to Egypt, however except there’s some helpful dialogue that comes of this (unlikely) or except there’s a regime change in some unspecified time in the future, I’m simply not going to danger it.
I don’t finally know what would occur to me if I traveled to Egypt once more, however the authorities clearly acknowledged that it’ll “take all essential authorized motion towards those that try to hurt the credibility and popularity of the civil aviation sector via unfounded allegations.” For the reason that authorities insists that my claims are unfounded, and even states that I’m on some overseas entity’s payroll to slander the airport, it’s simply not a danger that I need to put myself (or my household) via.
Now, I’ve seen some individuals recommend that I needs to be scared method past that, saying I needs to be apprehensive to journey wherever within the Center East, and one individual even declaring that the USA and Egypt have an extradition treaty, and many others. Whereas I respect the overall warnings, that’s not one thing that’s inflicting me any concern as of now:
- I don’t assume that is what extradition treaties are made for
- Within the scheme of the enemies of Egypt, I’ve to think about that I nonetheless rank fairly low
- I’m deliberate and cautious with the Center Japanese nations that I journey to, so except there’s some data I’m not aware about, I don’t have considerations that it will trigger me points with different nations
I nonetheless can’t imagine the Egyptian authorities’s response
I’ve been running a blog for almost 17 years, and I’ve shared my fair proportion of journey opinions and takes on the weblog. Whereas I’ve had every kind of events take difficulty with what I write (as you’d anticipate), I’ve by no means in my life had as unwarranted (in my thoughts) of a response because the Egyptian authorities’s assault on me. To begin:
- Clearly the Egyptian authorities isn’t conversant in the Streisand impact, and the way they only introduced much more consideration to the problems at Cairo Airport than I ever might have
- I’m just a few random blogger, so to have a authorities come after me on this method is simply such a disproportionate response; you’d assume I used to be appearing on behalf of some overseas authorities that’s an enemy of Egypt
- I shared my sincerely held beliefs about Cairo Airport, and I didn’t say a single factor that was dishonest or that I didn’t imagine; I feel it’s actually necessary to be sincere when sharing experiences, as a result of I function below the belief that if I lie, somebody will maintain me accountable, and I deserve that
- As longtime OMAAT readers can attest to, I’m not somebody who’s in search of out drama, not like another bloggers and vloggers, who appear to consistently have problematic run-ins; because the Aegon Mykonos incident over three years in the past, I’ve had principally no drama, and that’s fairly a while for somebody who travels as a lot as I do
It truthfully didn’t faze me a lot initially, however the extra I give it some thought, the wilder I feel this entire factor is. How loopy is it {that a} authorities spent a numerous variety of hours discovering CCTV footage of me all around the airport, after which selectively printed elements of it to make it appear like the airport is ideal?
What a fully surprising invasion of privateness. Like, it’s one factor to publish footage if somebody dedicated an precise crime at an airport, however to publish footage of me and broadcast it on the nationwide information in Egypt once I fairly actually didn’t commit any crimes is simply subsequent degree.
I additionally love the variety of authorities trolls (or one thing) who’re coming right here and commenting about how I’ve been “uncovered” for mendacity, like this one:
You’re a liar supported by soiled Ethiopia and you can be punished by legislation and banned from getting into Egypt without end
Let me as soon as once more emphasize that seven minutes of my roughly 4 hours at Cairo Airport have been printed. In fact the airport seems tremendous nice based mostly on that footage, as a result of the federal government cherry picked the seven minutes that make it look the perfect.
However what a really weird invasion of privateness. On-line complaints about Cairo Airport are completely infinite, so to assume that any foreigner with no agenda will be publicly shamed and attacked for his or her notion of an airport is form of wild.
I can’t assist however surprise if there’s the rest that may be accomplished to carry the federal government accountable right here. I imply, Egypt is a rustic that has flights and vacationers from all around the world, together with a number of nonstop flights from the USA.
For instance, Thailand has excessive defamation legal guidelines, however no less than they’re clearly printed, so vacationers ought to make themselves conversant in them. Within the case of Egypt, there are (to my data) no legal guidelines towards sharing your opinion and experiences touring via an airport. I imply, heck, government-owned EgyptAir sends out post-flight surveys soliciting suggestions on the expertise.
Even inside the context of various governments taking completely different approaches, Egypt’s response appears excessive, by way of threatening me, making up false accusations towards me, and publishing video footage of me.
Will this incident change my content material going ahead?
I’m making an attempt to mirror on whether or not I realized something from this incident, or if something about it will change the best way I method content material sooner or later. Perhaps my opinion will evolve over time, however initially I’m simply viewing this incident as a really unusual outlier.
I’ve been running a blog for a really very long time, and for essentially the most half, haven’t had an excessive amount of drama. I imply, I obtain some constant threats that I gained’t get in to, but it surely’s the web, so what can you actually anticipate? As I mirror on what I might take away from this incident, listed here are a number of ideas:
- I’m not abruptly going to cease being goal, or cease sharing destructive ideas on one thing, if it displays how I really feel; whereas most of my posts spotlight the “finest” somewhat than the “worst” of issues, I don’t assume there’s something fallacious with both method
- I’ll proceed to watch out concerning the timing of publishing destructive issues, in order that I don’t publish them once I’m in a rustic the place it might pose a danger (as I typically do)
- This actually makes me hyper conscious of how among the extra “controversial” governments on the market could take critical difficulty with what finally quantities to a random individual’s opinion
I’m actually open to different classes as properly, and like I stated, my emotions could evolve over time.
Backside line
It has actually been an attention-grabbing few days right here on the weblog. A publish sharing my common dislike of Cairo Airport someway made nationwide headlines in Egypt, and prompted the federal government to accuse me of every kind of issues, together with taking a visit “geared toward undermining Cairo Airport.” The federal government has even threatened to take authorized motion towards me.
I’ve handled fairly a little bit of destructive suggestions and even many threats on the weblog over time, although this one positively takes the cake.
What’s your tackle this case, and what my takeaway needs to be?
